Method of making steering-wheels.



K. H0065. METHOD 0F MAKING STEERING WHEELS.

\ APPLICATION FILED AUG.29, I9I3 RENEWED AUG. I5. I9I8. 1,296,958

Patented Mar. 11, 19

2 SHEETS-SHEET I- /VW A W A, u

5 I' fr fj e j 5 if K. HOUSE.

METHOD 0F MAKING STEERING WHEELS. APPLICATION FILED Ausl?, 15H34 RENEWED AUG. 15, islas.

l 996,958 Patented Mar. ll, MM.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2\ ZU/' 121275.75575 I KARL Hopen, or sIbNEY, 'omoA MTHQD F MAKINGv STEERING-WHEELS;

Application led VAugust au, iam, serial No. 787,2@

To al-whom it may concern.' l t B e it known that I, KARL Hohen, a citiaen of theUnited States, anda resident of Sidney, county of Shelby. and State of Ohio,

'have invented a new and useful Improve- *m'entfin Methods of Making Steering- Wheels, of which the following is a speell fication, the principle of the invention being herein vexplained and the best' mode in which I have'contemplated applyingthat principle, so as to distinguish it from other Uinventions.

`The majority of the steering wheels which are'now used4 for motor vehicles are made of Wood, there being a plain woodenrim to Which is attached a spider, the spi-der `consisting of a hub provided with radially extending arms, the ends of which are suit- .ably connected to-the annular wooden rim.

vIt is extremelyfdifficult to provide a permanent and Secure connection between the ends of the arms and this rim and itis the object of the present invention to provide a methodv of forming a steering wheel which will rpositively and permanently attach the. spider arms te a suitable rim. This vgreatly desired result is secured by molding an annular rim of fibrous material about the ends` of the spider arms. In this way it is imossible for the arms to ever become detachedfrom the rim unless the rim is first i broken, and the strength of wood pulp or fiber is so great that it will'be geen that this i modified method of molding the fibrous malatter possibility is extremely slight. Tov

the accomplishment of .the foregoing and related ends, said invention, then, consists of the means hereinafter fully described. and particularly pointed out in the claims.

The annexeddrawings .and the following descriptionset forth indetailcertain mechanism embodying the invention, such disclosedmeans constituting, however, lbut one of various mechanical forms in which the principle of the invention may be used.

I'n said annexed .drawings:l Figure lis a plan View showing a; portion of arnold adapted to receive through vsuitable recesses the endso'f the spider arms;

Fig.; 2 is a section on the line 2-2 in Fig. l; Fig.y 3.5isa section on the line iis-3 in Fig. l; Fig. 4: is a plan view of the vfinished wheel; Fig. 5 is a transverse section illustrating a terial to the spider arms; Fig. 6 is' a view similar to ,55,

after the completion o a furthestep; Fig.

Specification of Letters Patent.

but showing this method,

Renewed August 15,y 1918. Serial No. 250,078.

7 is a view similar to Fig. 6 but illustrating l a slightly modified form of mold; Fig. 8 is I I similar to-Fig. 8, but showing therim when trimmed to size.`

Patented Mar. 11, 191.9.

in Fig. 1 I Showa portion 1 of the moid which is. provided with "a plurality of re- .cesses or openings 2, the mold being pref- 'erably circularand the recesses being of course on the inner side of the same. In these recesses there may be received. the ends 3 of the spider arms/i which are attached f to a central hub 5. 'Vl/'hen the arms 4 have thus been insertedv inthe recesses the mold is filled with a suitable type of'fibrous material 6, preferably wood pulp, which is un` der considerable'pressure and is in a plastic condition. This material fills the mold completely, the ends of the spider arms'being enibeddcd in thisy material., The material is then hardened by allowing it to dry or by application of heat and pressure and when so ha-r .lcned is removed from the mold, the vsteering wheel then'bcing completed, as the the annular rim. No further operations are then necessary except occasionally a smoothing,r up of the outer lsurface of the ,annular rim. Neither.v have I shown the means for forcing Ithe fibrous Amaterial into the mold nor do I show the connections for this purmay take variousI forms.

Neither have l. 'llustrated in. detail the precise construction of the mold, as this is .of course a matter of little importance and will readily suggest itself to experts inV this art. The general shape of the mold and the relative positionof the spider arms inthe same are clearly shown, however, in Figs.4

2 and 3.`

There are various methods of moldingl fibrous Ymaterial to the spider arms, and 1n pose as they are relatively unimportant and Figs. 5 to 9 I haveillustrated a modified I method In this nmethod there isfirst provided a flat mold 10 upon which fibrous material in thin strips 11-is placed until a i certainthickness of' material is formed upon the plate or mold. It will be understood of.

course that the material as applied tothe in a plastic condition. After a certain depth of material has been secured the ends 3 of flat mold is in extremely thin strips and is the spider arms are placed upon this wood pulp and morewood pulp Aor fibrous material is then'I added in thin strips 12 until a vlsuitable depth above the spider arms is :sev cured when av second flat plate or mold 13 is placed upon the material and the upper and lower molds are' pressed toward each other with a considerable pressure. This operation is shown in Fig. 6, and it' will be understood'that after theJ Aibrous material has been conipressedf-folw av given period, .the same is hardened ,after being first removed from the mold, it being then in the form shown in Fig'. 8.l l v The thin 'strips 1l and 12'of fibrous material will come together at the outerl ends of lthe spider arms as shown in Figs. G and 7.

If desirable the molds may be constructed to conform to this bending of the fibrous strips. Thus in Fig. 7 the outer sides 14 of the two Hat plates are bent toward each other which will producel a molded rim of similar form, as indicated inv Fig. .8. 1

The mold d rim 15 (see Fig. 8), after be. ing removed from'the molds and hardened, is considerably over sizev and vmust then be trimmed down by any suitable means to the v shape shown in Fig. 9. The' rim formed by this method is asl homogeneous as is the lrim formed by thefrstmethod, the nish'ed rim vin each case appearing as shown' in Fig. 4.

The advantage of this newmethod of making the rim will be at oncerecognizedl by those who have had to ldeal with the former types of wooden steeringwheels. The engagement of thespicuj-arms in the rim is fmuch'more-secure than .formerly and' l there is no possibility of the arms becoming detached from the rim. Furthermore, the

'rim itself is fully as strong, or even stronger than the rims when. made of Wood, assummg of course that the size in each case is the same.

Other modes of applyingthe principle of my invention maybe employed instead of the one explained, -change being made as regards the process herein disclosed, provided the step or steps stated by any one 0f the p following claims or the equivalent of such stated step or steps beemployed. l

I therefore particularly point out and dls- 'tinctly claim as my invention:

hardening such material,

3. The method of forming steeringiwhe'els"v which consists in moldingv thin strips of sure, and then' hardening suchmaterial. 4. The method ol forming steering wheels wood pulpto .eitherside of the spider-arms, molding other strips ovwood pulp to the first-applied pulp under-pressure, hardening such wood pulp, and vthen trimmingthe.7l5

hardened rim to the desired size and shape. 1 Signed by me, this 25 day ofyAugust,1913.;v

KARL vI-Ilonef'n Attested by-. 4

' H. B. FAX, u i y f.

:.65 fibrous material to either side ot the spider j arms, moldingl other strips of fibrous mate-. f rlal to the first-applied. strips .underprersm .701 I whlch conslstsin molding thlnrstrlpsof. 'i 

